Last year, Arrowpoint Capital began the process of implementing CLM Tracker, a service that stores, manages, and tracks adjuster licenses and continuing education (CE) requirements. Arrowpoint’s goal was to simplify the manual processes that consumed staff resources and time. We checked in with Tina Zink Pernie, who manages claims litigation and vendor management initiatives at her company, to see how things were going.
What was the problem Arrowpoint Capital was trying to solve when it decided to implement CLM Tracker in June 2011?
Our problem was similar to a lot of other companies: we had an antiquated system for keeping track of adjuster licensing information. We employed a database system for our 50+ adjusters that was difficult to use and had no automated reporting capabilities. Essentially, our system only told us that an adjuster had a license and that the license was valid until a particular date. It didn’t tell us if our adjusters were keeping up with their CE requirements and didn’t provide us with a high-level, dashboard-type view of adjuster licensing information. In reality, all we really had were copies of certificates.
What was the first step in the transition?
Step one was to get everyone set up in the system. Any adjuster who wasn’t already a fellow of CLM was asked to register, since CLM Tracker access is gained through CLM’s home page. Once that was done, we built a hierarchy and reporting structure. CLM Tracker is flexible and allows for reporting structure changes as needed. It is easy to change!
Once the structure was built, we transferred our existing licensing information into the system. We included the date a license was issued or renewed for each state, along with each adjuster’s license number. Our adjusters then entered CLM Tracker and verified their information, adding any CE credits that they had earned. On average, our adjusters each had 5-7 licenses to verify.
What do you like and dislike so far?
We’ve been fully using it since January 2012. The transition was easy due to the comprehensive tutorial from CLM that included a step-by-step explanation, complete with pictures. The tutorial included information on how to login, where to locate personal information, how to add a new license, and where to upload CE credits. CLM Tracker sends email alerts to the adjusters if their licenses are coming up for renewal or are about to expire. It reminds them that they need to take more CEs or, in some cases, add CEs that they forgot to upload. After a certain timeframe, the system pushes that same email to supervisors to make them aware of the upcoming license renewal or expiration. It is a much more interactive and proactive approach.
I also find it useful that I can see the structure of our organization easily; that I can go in as an administrator and look at anyone’s underlying information as needed; and that I can easily manipulate the reporting structure to change the hierarchy.
I would like additional reporting capabilities, though. I am a “give me more data than I need” type of manager and would like to slice-and-dice the data contained within CLM Tracker. Further enhancements should include the lines of business on the individual licenses.
Overall, using CLM Tracker is a collaborative process—it is easy to suggest and then implement additions to the system.
Give me an example of how CLM Tracker has helped your company.
Let’s say someone is going to retire—we know the claims industry is facing an aging population, right?—and all of the sudden you realize that this adjuster is the only one handling workers’ compensation claims in Vermont, a state that requires a specific license to handle workers’ compensation claims. It also does not offer reciprocity. Before I can transfer those claims to another adjuster, I have to validate that the new adjuster has a license in Vermont and that his or her license is up to date.
In our old system, I had to open every adjuster’s profile and then open up each license because even if our system reported that an adjuster had a Vermont license, I had to see the date. There was no high-level information; essentially, it was just pictures. CLM Tracker makes that kind of process a lot easier for us.
It’s been almost a full year since you started actively using CLM Tracker. How is it going?
Overall, we are very pleased with it. We no longer have a support staff member assigned to uploading adjuster information and trying to keep our database up to date. The responsibility now falls to our adjusters to monitor their own licenses. And with the hierarchy, the alerts, and the reporting in place, management can keep an eye on adjuster licensing statuses from a distance. Overall, we really like the functionality and are happy with CLM Tracker.